My Genealogy Hound

HORACE MILTON EBERT, secretary of the March-Brownback Stove Company, of Pottstown, was born in Cressona, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, January 9, 1866. He is the son of Joseph R. and Margaret (Wurts) Ebert.

Joseph R. Ebert (father) was born in Montgomery county. In young manhood he was a carpenter, and afterwards became an agent for the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company. He was station agent at various places. Joseph R. Ebert made his home in Norristown for many years, and about 1894 removed to Pottstown, where he died in 1897, aged fifty-eight years. His wife died in 1900, aged sixty-two years. In politics he was a Republican. The family were members of the Lutheran denomination. Margaret Wurts Ebert was also born in Montgomery county. Mr. and Mrs. Ebert had four children: Walter Winfield, died in infancy; Ida May, died unmarried at the age of thirty-eight; Horace M.; Ella Blanche, a music teacher.

William Ebert (grandfather) was born in Pennsylvania, and was of German descent. He was a cabinet-maker and later a miller, being the owner of a mill at Mingo, below Royersford. He lived most of his life in Montgomery county and died at the age of seventy years. He and his wife had four sons and three daughters. George Wurts (maternal grandfather) was also born in Pennsylvania, and was of German descent. He was a farmer in Schuylkill county. He was twice married and had seven children. George Wurts died at an advanced age.

Horace M. Ebert removed to Norristown with his parents when he was seven years of age, and lived in that borough for many years. He completed the public school course in that borough; graduating from the Norristown high school in the class of 1881. After receiving his diploma he took a clerical position with the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, and later was employed for a time in the Pencoyd Iron Works, one of the most extensive establishments of the kind in America. In the year 1892 Mr. Ebert went to Pottstown, where he has held ever since the position of secretary of the March-Brownback Stove Company, one of the most successful corporations engaged in above manufacturing in Pennsylvania, employing one hundred and fifty persons or more in its various departments. Mr. Ebert belongs to the Elks and the Foresters of America. He served in the Spanish-American war, raising a company in Pottstown and neighboring townships. He was its first lieutenant, and he served with it throughout the Porto Rican campaign.

Mr. Ebert has always taken an active interest in politics, national, state and local, being strongly attached to the principles and policy of the Republican party. His name has frequently been mentioned in connection with public positions, and at the Republican County Convention of 1902 he was nominated by acclamation for the position of assemblyman on the party ticket, along with Messrs. Rex, Weida, Ambler and Landis. Mr. Ebert as well as his colleagues on the assembly ticket took an active part in the canvass, which was one of the most earnest ever made in Montgomery county. They were triumphantly elected in November of that year, Mr. Ebert’s popularity, wherever he is known, being attested by his large vote in Pottstown, Norristown, and elsewhere in the county. At Harrisburg Mr. Ebert was one of the most useful, industrious and influential members of the House of Representatives. He served on the committees as follows: To Compare Bills, Corporations, Manufacture, and Federal Relations, and took a large share in the work of the session.